J*A*S*M

Would you like a film to be made about you? Kill yourself! Another entry to an already too long series of documentaries about deceased celebrities who had everything and nothing at the same time. Some of the key events seemed only very lightly addressed and thus weren’t entirely clear for someone who’s never heard the name of Michael Hutchence. And with regards to Michael’s “complicated inner world”, as touted by the blurb, well, I didn’t learn much about that, either. #KVIFF2019

The journey must have been long and gruelling, and the same applies to the film. I see that a lot of people find Lilian interesting and stimulating, nothing against that, but for me, in this case, the journey is not the destination. Fatigue and the uncomfortable seats of the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theatre may have affected the experience. #KVIFF2019

That Andrzej, what a bastard he was. One would expect that the Eastern European economic migrants in the film would be bullied by the local Westerners, but they can handle that on their own. #KVIFF2019

The program of pretty much every edition of the Karlovy Vary festival features a film about a freethinker who had the misfortune of being born in an Arabic conservative country, and who is trying to defy the local regime. This year it was Papicha. It is very well put together, but, at the same time, it’s one of those films where everything is more or less clear in advance. Just like it’s clear that in a year we will see something very similar. A must-see it might not be, but watching it won’t hurt. #KVIFF2019

A formally pampered bizarre thing, with a flavourless and empty plot. I had fun, especially with the scenes in the hellish shopping mall, but, when a film is weird, like this one is, I prefer it to have something more tangible, a clear author’s intention. This one, however, was pretty random. #KVIFF2019

Jarmusch on auto-pilot. It’s quite fun, with weird characters that walk, ride and stand in a town affected by a zombie apocalypse, while throwing funny one-liners. But when you see all that talent together, you want more. #KVIFF2019

A Styrian zombie horror flick "by Jára Cimrman".

I submitted to the temptation of the horror elements. I’m a moron! This type of film is a plague of festivals. There’s no plot arc, it’s rather a simple thesis stretched to a weaker two hours, and it could be cut off at any time. There’s nothing more I can say about it. I was intensively uninterested in it already after ten minutes. #KVIFF2019

A solid drama with a thriller flavour about an unhappy woman investigating the circumstances of the event that changed her life (for the worse, of course). No doubt, a relevant topic for the geographic area, but I would’ve appreciated it more as a medium-length film. It drags too much at times. #KVIFF2019

Slow, depressive Icelandic films about sad freaks are already a sub-genre on their own. This one in particular drags a lot, at least at the beginning. On top of that, the main character is an unlikeable grumpy old man with no sympathy for anything or anyone, who repeatedly behaves like idiot to those around him while demanding others should be flawless. And, according to the film, they should understand and sympathise with him. I have the same problem I had with the recent Woman at War, also from Iceland. I like my Icelanders better with their famous black humour. #KVIFF2019